Millwall were unexpected finalists in the 2004 FA Cup final, and then-chairman Theo Paphitis thoroughly enjoyed the occasion.

For a period, it was not all that unusual for teams from outside the top division to reach the FA Cup final: half of the finals between 1973 and 1982 included a second-tier side, with Sunderland, Southampton and West Ham United even going on to win the trophy.

However, since the Premier League was formed in 1992, it has happened only twice, with Millwall becoming the first club to end that sequence when they reached their first-ever FA Cup final in 2004.

Former Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis was Millwall chairman at the time, while player-manager Dennis Wise guided the team into a final against Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium.

United eventually won 3-0 on the day, but Paphitis told FourFourTwo: “It was unbelievable that Millwall were even in the cup final, absolutely unbelievable.

“I’m sure the FA hated it. You people in the media definitely hated it! The FA wanted a showpiece between two big teams, right? Well, they got Manchester United, and then they had to deal with an underdog. You all had to accept a minnow. A good story for a day, I suppose.

“I never really had much time for the Football Association’s stuffiness, even though I was on the FA committee – because I was on the Football League board, I automatically got on to it.

“But I wasn’t part of the blazer brigade, I wasn’t really interested in the pomp and ceremony, even though I had already changed the direction of the Football League by creating the new Championship, and renaming the others League One and League Two.

“I instigated the revamp of the Football League, and I was damned if I was going to let the Premier League run away with everything.

“We broke every protocol there was. I certainly wasn’t going to the cup final dinner beforehand or anything like that either.

“To me, Millwall were the people’s club. I had 99 little gold lion lapel badges made as souvenirs of the day – I had one for every member of the club staff, so they could remember the moment.

“The cup final was [referee] Jeff Winter’s last game, he was retiring, and someone told me he collected badges.

“So I managed to charm a lovely Welsh lady who believed everything I told her, and she took me right into the bowels of the stadium, all the way down to the referee’s room.

“I knocked on the door, it opened and I introduced myself, but they knew who I was.

“I said, ‘Right Jeff, it’s your last game, I know you’re retiring’. I shook his hand and wished him a happy retirement.

“Then I said, ‘I've had these 18-carat gold lion lapel pins made for all of my team and the Millwall backroom staff – everyone, including the groundsman’. I said, tongue in cheek, ‘They’re 18-carat gold, they’ve got a little bit of value, so you can of course turn them down or declare them to the FA, as you wish’.

“But I don’t think anybody in their wildest dreams was going to believe that a little lapel pin badge was going to influence the decision-making of the FA’s top officials in an FA Cup final.

“I turned to Jeff cheekily and said, ‘You won’t care a monkey, because you’re retiring’. Then to his assistants, ‘You guys have got a career ahead of you’. They looked at me as if to say, ‘Is this guy completely mad?’

“Jeff said, ‘Well, that’s very kind of you, Theo’, and he graciously accepted the gift, as did the others.

“So I presented them with the pins, which I’m sure they still have to this day, as a memento of that unbelievable day for Millwall Football Club.

“And I still think it was one of the best refereeing displays I’ve ever seen. Jeff let it flow.”